resume education table format

How to List Education on a Resume in 2022 (With Examples & Tips)

Not sure what degree to list? If you should include a GPA? It just so happens that there's a variety of ways to effectively list your eduction.

The education section of a resume may not always be the star of the document but knowing how to properly list your education can be essential for advancing into the next phase of the hiring process.

In this guide, we will cover all the ins and outs of crafting an education section for your resume. 

We'll cover the following:

• What to Include in an Education Section?

Tips for Listing Degrees (College, High-School, GED)

Listing incomplete education.

• Where to Include Education on a Resume?

What Employers Look for in an Education Section

Beautiful resume templates to land your dream job.

What to Include in an Education Section

As we've covered, different formats of resumes may require different information to be included within an education section.

In general, there is some basic information that should be included within the education section of a resume:

• The name of the school — "e.g. Georgia Institute of Technology"
• The location of the school
• Your degree ( high-school diploma, GED, associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree, etc. )
• Graduation year ( if applicable )
• Major field or department of study (if applicable )
• Minor field or department of study (if applicable and relevant )
• GPA ( If you're a student or graduates who held lower GPAs, this bit of information may be good to omit unless specifically requested by the employer )

Here's what that looks like for and university grad:

Georgia Institute of Technology • Atlanta, GA B.S. in Computer Engineering, 2006 - 2010 GPA: 3.9/4.0

For high-school students, you can do something like the following:

Georgia Institute of Technology • Atlanta, GA High School Diploma, Graduated in 2010 GPA: 3.9/4.0

Remember, including a GPA  is optional. Only add it if it's required by the job listing or it's relatively high. If your GPA is low (under 3.5), it's better to just leave it out.

Listing Education with Limited Work Experience

In resumes that have limited or no work experience , as may be the case with college students or recent graduates, the education section may be a good opportunity to show off educational achievements instead.

Additional information that can be included in longer education sections can include:

• Internships completed as part of a curriculum 
• Academic awards or sponsorships
• Relevant coursework
• Academic assistantships with professors or other academic professionals

As covered, in documents such as CVs the education section could be fairly lengthy.

However, the education section for most resumes will be one of the shortest sections.

This is mostly because standard resumes will be used for entry-level or mid-level positions, while longer-form resumes like the CV will only come into play for more prestigious or hard to obtain positions. 

It is much more important to show either a robust work history or detail relevant and transferable skills, using your education as support rather than the main point of interest. 

Here are some quick tips for deciding what educational information to include in a resume:

1) When including professional hobbies and extra curricular activities, it is important to keep relevance in mind

Incorrect: Do not include information about sports clubs or other clubs that cannot be connected back to your qualifications for a job.

Correct: If you held leadership positions in clubs or other extra-curricular activities, this can be useful information to include to highlight non-paid leadership or management experience.

Keep your descriptions simple and concise

Incorrect: Including long-winded and wordy paragraphs explaining the relevance of a certain piece of information. If a piece of information is relevant, it should be easily explained in one, simple sentence.

Correct: Use bullet points to separate bits of information to keep your resume easy to read or skim.

The readability of a resume can be the defining factor of whether or not a job recruiter or potential employer moves the candidate into the next phase of the hiring process.

As such, using clear and concise wording and formatting is essential for not just the education section, but for all sections. 

Here are a few tips for different formatting options depending on the level and type of education you have completed.

1) Adding High School and GED on Resume

• If your highest level of education is a high school diploma or a GED, this should still be included as there are many jobs that are open to high school graduates as well as college graduates.
• Generally, this type of education section should be kept short and sweet. Listing that you have received either a diploma or a GED should be sufficient.
• If you have recently graduated high school or received your GED, including additional high school-related achievements may be beneficial (such as leadership positions, honor roll awards, athletics, etc.)

2) Adding Associate’s and Bachelor’s Degrees on Resume

• When listing an associate’s or bachelor’s degree on a resume, always include the name and location of the institution, as well as the date or expected date of graduation.
• While the education section should still be kept short, inclusion of any collegiate level academic achievements, such as honor societies or dean’s lists, can be useful to include.
• Don’t go too crazy including coursework of extracurricular information – stick to including the most relevant information. 

3) Adding Graduate School or Doctoral Programs on Resume

• Graduate and doctoral students may feel inclined to always include this information; however, it is important to be wary of including too much academic information in scenarios where it may render you overqualified for the position.
• Graduate and doctoral information is more likely to come into play for candidates seeking higher level positions at the management level. 
• For candidates seeking jobs in academic or scientific fields, a CV-style resume and longer-form education section providing higher level of details regarding graduate or doctoral programs may be necessary.

4) Adding Certifications on Resume

• In some cases, a candidate may not have attended college but may have completed a trade school or other program that resulted in various certifications. These certifications should be included when relevant.
• Certifications such as CPR or First Aid can be useful to include in most resumes, although they should perhaps be saved for a separate certifications section .

5) Listing Incomplete Education on Resume

Incomplete education can be tricky to include in a way that sounds positive — as such, if you have incomplete education, be wary of your wording and avoid words such as “incomplete” or “unfinished.” Instead try to do the following:

• Include relevant coursework or credits earned during your duration of education before the point of departure from the institution.
• Omit any wordy or lengthy explanations of why the education is incomplete. 

However, we've seen this be a common problem that many candidates have. Continue reading below to see how to effectively list education that is left incomplete. ‍

In some cases, a job applicant may have a partially-complete or incomplete educational credential they want to list on their resume.

Incomplete education can result from a variety of circumstances, including:

• A person who is still in the process of earning their diploma, GED, or degree, but has not yet earned the credential or graduated.
• A person who started a degree and completed relevant coursework, but ultimately did not finish the degree program.
• A person who chose a different career path than what they studied for, but still has relevant coursework for the new career path.

When listing incomplete education on a resume, it is important to stay highly mindful of how you are wording your limited educational credentials — as words such as “ unfinished ” or “ incomplete ” are not ideal to include within a resume. 

Here are some quick examples on how to properly list incomplete education in the education section of a resume:

For applicants who are in the process of completing a degree, it is important to note the expected timeframe of completion.

Incorrect: ‍ B.S. in Communications University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC Not yet complete

Correct: B.S. in Communications University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC Expected graduation May 2021

For applicants who began a degree, but ultimately did not complete the degree, it is key to be mindful of how you frame the education you did receive. 

Incorrect: University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC

Why is this incorrect? Sure, this example indicates you, at some point, attended a university.

However, it provides no insight as to what relevant coursework or studies you may have completed.

Here's the correct way to describe your educational experience instead:

Correct: University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC Completed 20 credits towards a BS in Communications

Alternatively: This could be a good opportunity to include a bulleted list of relevant coursework.

For applicants who did not complete high school, it is important to note if you either earned a GED or are in the process of earning a GED.

Incorrect: ‍ Watauga County High School Boone, NC Incomplete

Correct: General Educational Development Diploma Earned May 2021 — OR — Expected to earn May 2021

Generally speaking, the majority of jobs will require applicants to have earned at minimum a GED certification in order to qualify.

In some cases, an applicant may lack a degree but may be certified by a trade school.

For instance, a beautician would want to include any beauty and health related certifications or licenses earned under the education section. 

Take a look at this resume example of a college student below to see how to do this.

Where to Include Education on a Resume

When it comes to placing your educational credentials on a resume, there are many considerations to make.

Resumes can serve a variety of purposes and, as a general rule of thumb, should be tailored for specific jobs . 

It is also important to take into consideration the level of education you have completed, as this will impact how it should be presented as well.

For instance, a job applicant seeking a position in academia would have a much heavier emphasis on education and academic-related achievements — than someone seeking a job in a corporate environment.

Ultimately, not all resumes are the same, so the placement of the education section will differ depending on the type of resume being used and the intention behind its structuring. 

Choosing the right resume format

There are several different types of resume formats to choose from, but the main ones that are used are as follows:

1) Reverse-Chronological

‍ Emphasis is placed on the most relevant work experience, listing jobs from most recent to oldest. Education can be placed before or after the work experience section. However higher degrees that qualify a candidate for the position may be beneficial to mention sooner rather than later. 

2) Functional

‍ Functional resumes place a much heavier emphasis on skillsets and areas of expertise. This format of resume is typically used by job applicants lacking the relevant work experience or educational credentials. In this format, the education section may lead if the applicant has educational credentials but limited work experience but should follow after the skills section if education is limited. 

‍ Hybrid resumes combine the reverse-chronological work experience ordering with the emphasizing of skills. This can help to supplement resumes of applicants who may have some relevant work experience but still need to beef up their resumes with a skills section . The placement of the education section will depend on how applicable or high level the credentials are and should generally be kept brief. 

4) Curriculum Vitae (CV)

‍ CVs are a type of long-form and multi-page resume used most commonly by applicants seeking positions in either academic or scientific fields. In a CV, the education section will be a prominent component and should appear early in the document. This type of education section should include all credentials, published works, projects, awards, or other academic achievements — no details should be spared. 

The below example of a Physician Assistant's resume is listing education in the bottom-right corner as it's using a reverse-chronological resume format to shine on it's work history.

Employers can gather a variety of information about a job candidate from an education section, including:

• A job applicant’s work ethic, reflected through GPAs or other grade-related information
• Relevant skills or training an applicant has received through their schooling
• Name recognition of specific universities, such as ivy leagues, that may give a candidate a leg up on the competition
• Insight into a candidate’s interests or talents based on academic-related extracurricular activities included 

Understanding what employers are looking for in an education section included on a resume is key to understand how much or how little information to include.

What an employer is looking for will vary depending on the nature of the job being offered. 

For instance, an entry-level communications job at a corporation is likely to require a bachelor’s degree in communications or a related field.

Comparatively, a job in the welding industry may require the completion of a trade school program but not require a four-year degree. 

It is of the utmost importance when you are applying to various jobs that you read the job descriptions provided carefully, as this is where you will find the necessary information regarding what educational credentials are required of eligible candidates.

This will also help you to tailor your education section according to what credentials or qualifications you have that meet the requirements of the job. 

In general, what an employer is mostly looking for is simply that an education section exists on a resume.

The majority of employers will want candidates who have shown a commitment to their education, reflected through the inclusion of an education section.

For candidates lacking a completed education, it is still considered best practice to include some information regarding what level of education was reached before the point of incompletion, as well as the inclusion of any relevant coursework and knowledge gained from the time the candidate spent pursuing further education. 

Here is a quick rundown of a few key factors to consider for applicants who may be unsure how much information to provide in an education section for a specific employer or position:

• The education section should prove that you have the credentials necessary to complete the job at hand.
• Oversharing of education can be detrimental in some situations, as overqualified candidates may not be considered by employers.
• Job descriptions will always be the best place to look for indicators regarding how much educational background information an employer is looking for.
• Never lie or over-exaggerate — while not all employers double-check applicants’ educational histories, many still do, and dishonesty can cost you the position in the long run.

Final Thoughts

Unless you are crafting a longer-form resume, such as a CV, the education section will generally be a fairly short summary of your academic credentials and achievements.

Education sections can be longer in some cases where job applicants may have hefty academic backgrounds but limited work experience.

Ultimately, the key to making a strong education section is to include only the most relevant information.

Always avoid deceptive wording, as employers can fairly easily run academic background checks if need be. 

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How to List Education on a Resume [13+ Real-Life Examples]

At first glance, there’s nothing profound or too complicated about listing education on your resume.

You insert all the schools you have ever attended in chronological order, and bam, you’re done.

Easy, right?

Well, let me ask a (hint: tricky!) question:

Do you list education before work experience if you are still in school but also have worked a bit?

Should you still list your GPA next to your education entry when all you did in college was skip classes, drink, and swipe right on Tinder?

Yeah, we know you’ve got your stuff together now and want to get everything right.

So read on and we’ll answer both those questions and more! 

• Where exactly to position education on your resume
• How to list education on your resume [+ Template]
• Specific real-life examples on how to list:
• High school education
• GED certificate
• University degree
• Associate’s degree
• Certificates
• Graduate school degree
• Unfinished education

Where to Position Education On Your Resume

So, should your education or experience come first in your resume?

Think of it this way:

The top third of the resume is reserved for your accomplishments that are most relevant to the job you are applying for .

So before you continue, ask yourself: Is your education your most relevant accomplishment?

The answer most of the time will be no . Work experience will be a more important requirement for just about any position above entry-level.

However, education can take priority in some particular cases.

Education comes first if you’ve just graduated from college and don’t have relevant work experience to list. Imagine you are an employer and the first thing you see in someone’s resume when they’re applying for an entry-level marketing associate position is their summer job as a bodyguard at their local town pool. 

It’s also wise to list education before work experience if you’ve recently gotten back to school to get a degree that’s relevant to your potential job.

For example, if you’re switching to a career in sustainable energy after having finished a related program, but have work experience predominantly in engineering, you would want your new education to be the first thing the hiring manager sees.

Getting a fresh MSc, Ph.D., or MBA is another case where you would want to highlight those degrees more than the work experience. 

An example would be if you’ve been a line manager for several years but went back to school to get an MBA and are reaching for that executive position. The deciding committee would want to see your MBA first and then your experience as a line manager.

Be careful if you are applying for a job in Academia and are writing a CV instead of a resume though. In that case, your education always comes before the work experience. 

Not sure if you need a CV or a resume? Check out our guide on CV vs Resume and learn what’s the difference between the two (and when to use which). 

How to Put Down Your Education in Your Resume [+ Template]

Now that you have an idea of where to put your education section, let’s start with the basics.

In terms of structuring your education section, the general practice is to follow a reverse chronological order : list your latest educational entry first, and then go backwards from there. 

Okay, but how far back should you go? Do you put your high school education in there as well? 

Usually, if you have a relevant university degree, it’s not advisable to waste precious space on your resume by listing your high school education.

Now that we’ve got all of that out of the way, we can show you a general template of how to write down your education. You list the following features in this particular order:

• Name of degree (Minor - optional): e.g. B.A. English Language and Culture, Minor in Teaching*
• Name of educational institution: e.g. University of Groningen 
• Years attended: e.g. 2016 - 2019
• Location of the program (optional): e.g. Groningen, the Netherlands
• GPA (optional): e.g. 3,84. Keep in mind, though, that you only list education if it’s at an “impressive” scale (i.e. 3.5+). This shows determination and hard work on your part. If it’s lower, you might want to omit it altogether.
• Honors (optional): e.g. Magna Cum Laude
• Courses that are relevant to the job (optional): e.g. Modern Popular Literature track
• Exchange programs (optional): e.g. Exchange Program in Oslo, Norway
• Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Culture with a Minor in Teaching
• B.A. English Language and Culture (Major), Teaching (Minor)
• BA, English Language and Culture

The full listing for this educational entry, then, is:

Of course, as we mentioned, many of these entries are optional . Listing all of them like ingredients for a recipe makes the resume look a bit cluttered. It’s going to be up to you to decide which ones are relevant for the job you are applying to.

For example, if our Jane Doe was applying for a librarian position at a local bookstore, her entry would look much shorter:

B.A. English Language and Culture, Minor in Teaching

University of Groningen 

2014 - 2017 

The only useful information for this position would be what, where, and when she studied. Notice how that would change if the position was at an international bookstore and one of the requirements was a “global mindset”:

Exchange Program in Oslo, Norway

Jane would now mention her exchange program since it’s relevant directly to her job position, which requires some sort of international experience.

• If you graduated from a famous university with a good reputation, you might want to highlight that first if you think it will make a good impression. So you would list “Harvard University” before the name of the degree.

As you can see, there’s plenty of freedom on how you decide to list your education. The main thing is to keep it short, relevant, and consistent throughout the resume.  

13+ Examples of Listing Education on Your Resume

In this section, we’ll give you a clearer idea of how to list your education on your resume, through practical examples for all types of education. 

Feel free to skip through the examples that don’t apply to you.

How to List High School Education & GEDs on Your Resume

If you’re a student in high school, the chance is you probably have some volunteer work and extracurriculars under your belt. If these aspects are relevant to the job you are applying for, you can put them before the education section.

In all other cases, the education section would take the upper hand, and would look something like this:

Chapel Hill High School

Courses: AP Science, Mathematics, Advanced Chemistry

If you’re still in high school, you can list it in your resume by omitting the finishing year

2017 - Present

If you were homeschooled or haven’t graduated high school but still received a General Education Development certificate, you can mention that in your resume in the following way:

GED High School Diploma

Durham Literacy Center

Note here that you can also add relevant courses or the location of your high school or GED center if you see it fit and you have enough space.

How to List Undergraduate Education on Your Resume

We already gave you an example of how to list a Bachelor’s Degree in the previous section.  

Here’s how you would, for example, list an engineering degree in three different cases.

If you have already finished university and have gotten the degree, list it according to the following template:

B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering

University of California, Berkeley

2002 - 2006

If you obtained a double major, you would write it down as:

B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering

Keep in mind, though, If you have two or more majors, you would want to list the major that is most relevant to the job you are applying to.

If you’re still attending college , though, you omit the finishing year, by adding “Present” instead:

2019 - Present

You can use other words & phrases instead of Present, as well, such as:

• Expected Graduation + year (So 2019 - 2023)
• In progress
• To be Completed + year.

And if you did go to university but realized frozen pizzas and ramen noodles weren’t your thing and dropped out , you can still list your unfinished education in your resume:

34 credits completed towards B.Sc. in Civil Engineering

2018 - 2019

How to List Community College Education on Your Resume

You list community college education pretty much the same way as any other undergraduate degree. 

The rules we explained on how to mention that you’re still studying or dropped out also apply here.

Now, let’s look at some real-life examples of different types of degrees.

Graduated with an Associate of Arts degree from a community college:

AA. in Business Designation, Summa Cum Laude

Community College of Denver

2015 - 2016

In pursuit of an Associate’s of Applied Science degree in a community college:

AAS. in Medical Assisting 

2018 - Present

A certificate from a community college:

30 credits completed towards a Medical Assisting Certificate

How to List Graduate Level Education on Your Resume

Graduate-level education is, in general, more detailed, since you have participated in a more focused area of research and graduate-level work. 

You most probably have also put out a dissertation of your own, which you should include in your resume.

Often, there are scholarships, fellowships or outside funding involved, which you might want to include in addition to all the general information. 

Here are some real-life examples:

MBA in Business Administration

Magna Cum Laude

University of Maine

Avangrid Scholarship

Ph.D. in Brain and Cognitive Sciences

University of Rochester

Dissertation: Imaging, Computational Analysis, & Neural Representations in Young Children

MSc. in Information Systems

WU Vienna University of Economics & Business

Salutatorian, Summa Cum Laude

2015 - 2017

Dissertation: Leveraging User-Generated Content for Advertising Purposes Through Information Systems

There’s a lot more to creating a good resume than just the education section. Become an expert with our complete guide on how to write a resume .

Key Takeaways

Now, let’s wrap up everything we learned in this post:

• Your education section belongs under your work experience section. If you don’t have any work experience, or just want to fault that new degree, though, you can put it on top instead.
• When listing your educational entries, do it reverse-chronologically. Meaning, start with the most recent ones and go backward from there.
• If you have a university or community college degree, don’t list your high school education.
• If you don’t have an exceptional GPA, do not list it.
• There are many ways to list your education depending on the type of school you went to (scroll back up for the examples!).
• And finally, if you didn’t finish your education, you can still put it down on your resume.

In all, the best way to avoid making mistakes or forgetting something important when you list your education on your resume is to use a reliable resume builder .

Want to know how that looks like?

Novorésumé makes your life much easier by offering many free templates that you can fill out online. 

It’s free, it’s reliable, and it can really make your resume shine.

And if there’s anything else you want to learn about the job hunt process, you can always check out our  career blog  for the latest news.

Suggested Reading:

• How to List Work Experience on a Resume - 10+ Examples
• 150+ Must-Have Skills for Any Resume [With Tips + Tricks]
• Use Resume Keywords to Land the Job [880+ Keywords]

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Education Format on Resume: How to Format Your Resume's Education Section [with Templates and Examples]

For recent graduates, the education section of your resume carries a lot of importance. When you don’t have much prior work experience, being able to feature a robust educational background on your resume can give you a real edge in your job search. And even if you’ve been out of education for a while, being able to showcase a formal qualification on your resume can demonstrate an important past success to hiring managers in any field.

But to get the most out of your education section, you need to make sure that it’s formatted correctly. A good education section should be readable and to-the-point, so that anyone reading your resume can understand it at a glance. Plus, being able to show that you know the formatting conventions of your education section will make your resume more credible to hiring managers—and boost your chances of landing your dream role.

To help you out, we’ve put together a guide to the education format in your resume. In this article, we’ll cover the following points:

• How to format your education section
• How to format education in progress and education overseas
• Some examples of great formatting for your education section
• Education Format in Resume

Much like the work experience section, the education section on your resume has a simple and widely-recognized standard format. While there are obviously exceptions, most of the time you’ll do just fine if you follow these simple steps:

• List your highest, most recent academic qualification
• List the institution where you earned it and the location of that institution
• List the approximate dates you spent working toward that qualification
• In bullet point format, list any particular honors or achievements you earned during your studies

Educational qualifications should be listed in reverse chronological order. If there’s overlap, put your most advanced degree first—it’s the more impressive qualification, so you should aim to call more attention to it. That means doctoral degrees should usually appear before master’s degrees, which will usually appear before bachelor’s or associate’s degrees.

Typically, the institution where you studied should be listed after the degree you earned. But if your degree is less relevant to the job you want—for example, if you have a degree in English Literature but you’re hoping to work in plumbing—you can list the school where you studied first, instead. Remember to include the location of the school!

When listing the dates of your education, it’s usually fine to list the month and the year when you started and ended your studies. If you completed your degree several years ago, you can simply list the years and leave out the months. It’s generally considered overkill to list the specific days when your course began and ended!

As with your work experience section, you can also use bullet points to flag up any key achievements you earned during your studies. This may look a little excessive if you’ve been out of education for a while—at that point, you should have more workplace-specific achievements to focus on instead. But recent graduates and current students can use this space to list their GPA (provided it’s above a 3.5), as well as any honors or prizes they’ve been awarded.

Resume Format Education in Progress

But what do you do if you’re still in the middle of your studies? Fortunately, there’s an easy way to format education in progress for your resume, too.

To make it clear right away that you’re still working on your degree, consider adding ‘in progress’ to the first line of your education listing. Instead of “BA in Economics,” write “BA in Economics in progress.” That way, nobody will find themselves wondering why you haven’t included an end date for your studies!

When the time comes to list the dates for your education in progress, you have a few options. You can leave them out altogether, since you’ve already mentioned that your studies are in progress. Or you can include an expected graduation date—which is as simple as writing “Expected to graduate June 2023” where the date range would normally go.

If you want to include a start date for your degree as well, turn the date range into two sentences instead of one. That would look something like “Commenced 2019. Expected to graduate June 2023.”

All the other relevant information about your degree—such as your school and its location, as well as any prizes or honors you’ve earned so far—can be included as usual.

How to Format Study Abroad on a Resume’s Education Section

Studying abroad reflects serious skills and achievements that any employer will recognize. If you’ve been lucky enough to study abroad, you should absolutely make sure you list that experience on your resume! But how do you go about including it in your education section?

No matter how short, your study abroad experience can be featured as its own listing within your education section. It should appear underneath your actual degree, though—as a substantial qualification in its own right, that should always take priority.

List the institution where you studied abroad, as well as the country where it’s based. Include the dates of your overseas study, and remember that if you only spent a semester overseas, it’s fine just to list that specific semester. And if you earned any particular achievements or awards during your study abroad, list them as bullet points, just as you would for a regular education listing!

• Education Format on Resume Examples

Still not sure where to start? Here are a range of examples of great education formatting for your resume. Whatever your circumstances, you’ll be able to see exactly what you need to do to show off your education to best effect!

Degree First Education Format on Resume

Bachelor of Arts in English Literature New York University, New York October 2018-June 2022

• Dean’s List 2018-2022

This is the standard way to format your education section for your resume. If your degree is relevant to the job you want, this is the way to go!

School First Education Format on Resume

New York University, New York Bachelor of Arts in English Literature October 2018-June 2022

If your degree is less relevant to the job you’re applying for, consider listing your school first instead! This example shows what that should look like in practice.

In Progress Education Section on Resume

Bachelor of Arts in English Literature (In Progress) New York University, New York

• Started October 2019; expected end date June 2023

If you’re still in the middle of your degree, you can still list your education as normal! All you have to do is tweak the date listings, to make it clear that your degree is still ongoing. You can also add “in progress” to the header, so it’s obvious right away that you’re still a student.

Study Abroad Education Format on Resume

Bachelor of Arts in English Literature New York University, New York

• October 2018-June 2022

International Exchange Program Oxford University, UK

• Spring Semester 2019

As we discussed earlier in the article, you can list any study abroad experience underneath your main degree. While it gets its own listing, it should still be secondary to your more substantial qualification.

Incomplete Degree Education Format on Resume

New York University, New York 70 credits toward Bachelor of Arts in English Literature

Even if you didn’t finish your degree, the work you did still counts! All you have to do is specify that you earned credits toward a degree, rather than a full degree. This is another great time to list your school first, so hiring managers aren’t immediately confronted with the fact that you didn’t reach the end of your program.

Multiple Degrees

As we explained earlier, your most recent degree (which will usually also be your highest degree) should appear first in your education section. Here’s an example of how that looks in practice!

Master of Arts in English (In Progress) New York University, New York

• Started October 2022; expected to graduate June 2024

Bachelor of Arts in English New York University, New York

Waverly March

Content Writer + Resume Expert

Waverly is a freelance writer, former HR officer and current international traveller. They believe in doing your research, showing up prepared, and bringing your passions with you to work. They've helped countless job seekers create better resumes and cover letters to improve and grow their careers.

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